The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - December 6, 2024
Installed to improve safety and logistics for the development of a mine at KSM, the Bell-Irving River Bridge is among the investments Seabridge made ahead of applying for substantially started status at the copper-gold mine project in Northern British Columbia.
Newly established camp to support mine development at KSM.
Roughly a week after the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha (TSKLH) First Nation filed a petition to challenge British Columbia's "substantially started" determination for Seabridge Gold Inc.'s KSM copper-gold mine project in Northern B.C., Ecojustice filed a similar petition on behalf of transboundary conservation groups in northwestern B.C. and Southeast Alaska.
The substantially started determination issued by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) in July ensures permanency of a previously approved environmental assessment certificate (EAC) for the KSM Mine.
In the petition filed last week by Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha, the First Nation contends that it was not adequately consulted by the provincial government prior to the approval of Seabridge's KSM substantially started status application.
The Ecojustice petition – filed on behalf of the SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, formed in 2007 to protect the Skeena River watershed in northwestern BC, and the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, formed in 2014 to protect transboundary rivers from mining in Canadian headwaters – contends that the EAC for KSM is outdated and that Seabridge should be required to restart the permitting process.
"The environmental assessment for the KSM mine is over 10 years old. The lawsuit says that during this time, the company failed to substantially start the project, as required by the Environmental Assessment Act," said Ecojustice lawyer Rachel Gutman. "There are good reasons why the law has expiration dates for environmental assessments, including ensuring that mega projects like the KSM mine do not proceed based on outdated information."
Seabridge, however, has invested more than C$1 billion ($710 million) on exploration and development at KSM, including more than C$444 million ($316 million) over the past three years, and its EAC was in good standing at the time of the substantially started determination.
Newly established camp to support mine development at KSM.
The two new petitioners also contend that attracting a large mining company to help fund the development of a mine at KSM weighed on the provincial government's substantially started decision.
"We believe it is inappropriate for the EAO, the agency tasked with assessing the environmental impacts of a project, to consider how their decision might support a company with project funding," said Greg Knox, executive director of SkeenaWild Conservation Trust.
Seabridge points out that the two groups represented by Ecojustice are public interest advocates with a history of vocal opposition to all mining projects within their areas of conservation interest.
The company says it has received strong support from Northern B.C. communities, including three First Nations and six municipal governments that submitted letters in favor of the provincial government granting substantially started status to the project.
"It is clear that the new petitioners do not represent the interests of northwest British Columbia or Canada," said Seabridge Gold Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk.
The company has been advised that the previous TSKLH First Nation petition and the new petition filed by Ecojustice will be combined and heard as one court case due to similar issues being raised.
One small but potentially important difference between the two petitions is the one filed by Earthjustice includes Seabridge's wholly owned subsidiary, KSM Mining (KSMCo) as a respondent.
"We are very confident there is ample evidence that the determination was reasonable and appropriate," said Fronk. "Since our subsidiary is included as a respondent to the new petition, we are a party to the proceedings and will aggressively defend against both petitions."
Seabridge says the substantially started status for KSM remains in place until a ruling is made on the petitions.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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